Republic blitzed Monett with one of its most prolific offensive performances in program history, romping to a 10-0 win in its final regular-season game of the season. The game was stopped by rule just seven minutes into the second half, when Republic scored its tenth goal. (Scroll down to see highlights of all ten goals.)
“Especially after the two hard games on Monday and Tuesday… I think just to have something positive going into districts is big, and tonight was that,” said coach Kevin Hauck.
Abbie Hicks scored a career-high four goals, and Anna Jones had three. Emma Pearce, Hannah Lease, and Cameron Gardner each scored one goal. For Gardner, a freshman, it was the first varsity goal of her career.
Jones also assisted on two goals, with single assists by Gardner, Abbie Hicks, Jaiden Gibbs, and Natalie Montenegro (her first career varsity assist).
Hicks scored her first two goals within the first six minutes of the game, but despite dominating possession and getting off several shots, Republic didn’t score again until the 30th minute, when Hicks completed the hat trick with a header off a corner kick by Jones.
That set off a scoring spree as fast as any in program history. One minute later, Jones scored her first on a breakaway. Hicks scored her fourth goal two minutes after that. Jones followed that goal up with her second score of the night, then scored her third goal just three minutes after that. During a stretch of about six minutes, Republic scored five goals.
A minute after halftime, Pearce got in on the act with a score to make it 8-0. Lease scored next, and Gardner finished it off with her first career varsity goal in the 47th minute.
“I told the girls, let’s play possession. Let’s just move the ball around, then when you get a chance to shoot, we’ll shoot, and we did, and we created a lot of opportunities for ourselves,” Hauck said.
Republic had previously scored ten goals in a game twice, and it happened in consecutive regular-season games. The first time was May 15, 2014, when Republic beat Greenwood to end its 2014 regular season. Sarah Marcotte scored five goals, Sierra Casagrand scored four, and Jocelyn Carpenter scored one in that game. The other ten-goal game was on March 20, 2015, in the opener of the following season against Aurora. Jocelyn Carpenter scored three goals, Emily Jordan and Lesleigh Fenton scored two each, and Jade Sawyer, Morgan Jones, and Morgan Cantrell each had one.
Republic finishes its regular season at 15-8. The Lady Tigers begin district play next week as the #1 seed. Republic plays fourth-seeded Joplin Tuesday at 5 pm.
Farr Better Player of the Game
Two minutes into the game, Abbie Hicks already had a goal. She scored a second one four minutes later, and the Lady Tigers were off and running. Hicks scored four goals, a career high, in the first half, and she was our Farr Better Player of the Game.
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